Royal Australian Air Force flight sergeant Darren Cox fined over prejudicial conduct in Hawaii

Several subordinates spotted an Air Force flight sergeant being “intimate” with a superior overseas. Now, he’s been punished by a military court.

Waikiki, where Darren Cox committed a prejudicial conduct offence in a hotel spa. Picture: iStock

A “highly decorated” military man has suffered a fall from grace after several subordinates spotted him being “intimate” with a superior in a Hawaiian hotel spa, a court has heard.

Darren Kevin Cox, a flight sergeant in the Royal Australian Air Force, was fined $1000 in the Defence Force Magistrates Court on Monday after he pleaded guilty to prejudicial conduct.

The sentencing magistrate, Group Captain Scott Geeves, suspended half of the fine.

Reading from an agreed statement of facts, prosecutor Lachlan Ellis told the court the offence had occurred while Cox, 51, was on a deployment to Hawaii in November 2022.

Major Ellis said Cox had become “mildly intoxicated” after drinking rum and Coke while socialising with other members of his squadron in an outdoor spa at their hotel in Waikiki.

Darren Cox was on a deployment to Hawaii when the offence occurred at Waikiki. Picture: iStock

Five subordinates and an Australian Defence Force contractor were all in the spa when the court heard a female flight lieutenant was seen “hovering” over Cox’s lap and giggling.

The court heard the “flirtatious” pair were then spotted touching each other underwater in the corner of the spa.

Darren Cox is a flight sergeant in the Royal Australian Air Force.

There was some uncertainty surrounding the precise nature of the touching, which was said to have occurred around what was described in court as “the lower bather line”.

Group Captain Geeves ultimately said he was sentencing Cox on the basis the touching had not been sexualised, but that it had prejudiced the discipline of the Defence Force because it had “displayed a degree of over-familiarity” to subordinates who were present at the time.

Cox’s defending officer, Wing Commander Jodi Mather, stressed that there had been no allegation of sexual misconduct and the incident had involved “two consenting adults”.

Wing Commander Mather told the court Cox had not invited his superior to “hover” over his lap at the beginning of the incident, but he had not deflected her advances.

Tourists on Waikiki Beach. Picture: iStock

She added that Cox had been shouldering “an enormous level of responsibility” at the time in question, working “literally 24/7” for weeks before finally getting a chance to relax in the spa.

Wing Commander Mather described Cox, a married father of three, as a “highly decorated” serviceman whose reputation in the military had already suffered “immeasurable” harm.

“It’s essentially a fall from grace for Flight Sergeant Cox,” she said, revealing the 51-year-old was considering leaving the Air Force after 33 years of service.

The defending officer tendered to the court a number of personnel performance reports, the latest of which recommended Cox for immediate promotion to the rank of warrant officer.

Group Captain Geeves, who described the reports as “close to perfect”, said it was “gravely unfortunate” the 51-year-old’s conviction was likely to stymie any chance of promotion in the short term.

Waikiki Beach at night. Picture: iStock

He ultimately accepted Cox’s conduct had been “an aberration” and that his service to the Defence Force had otherwise been “outstanding and exemplary”.

The magistrate told Cox that while he had “let himself down badly” on the date of the offence, it would be a shame if a man of his “expertise and promise” was lost to the military.

Group Captain Geeves also addressed Cox specifically in relation to a “very powerful” statement from his wife, who wrote about the impact of the spa incident on their marriage.

“She desperately, I think, wants the old Darren back in her life, not the one who currently … beats himself up to the point where he’s become somewhat of a recluse,” he said.

Group Captain Geeves urged Cox to return to his wife in the Northern Territory as “the earlier model Darren”, rather than as “a stranger”.

Cox’s voice shook as he replied.

“I’ll do my best, sir,” the 51-year-old said.